Bloodlust
by bombalurima
Summary: Azula could still hear her now, those words uttered in that hoarse, raspy, achingly perfect voice...  Azula's thoughts right after the Boiling Rock. Warning: rather dark, FEMSLASH  one-sided Azula/Mai  , and some sexual things going on here.


**A/N: Takes place right after the Boiling Rock episode. Very dark, creepy fic about the start of Azula's descent into madness. I think Mai and Ty Lee's betrayal had an enormous impact on her, and I'd like to sort of convey the start of that in this. Also, out of her two henchladies, many people seem to feel as if Azula would lust after Ty Lee. While the Tyluza crack ship is interesting and eerie in its own right, I can't help but feel it'd be rather one-sided: Ty Lee's treatment of Azula could be seen as 'something else', but not the other way around. I always felt that out of the two of them, the one more likely to attract Azula's desire would be Mai. Henceforth, this fic.**

**As always, enjoy. And I'm sorry for any little bits and pieces of bad grammar or anything else that needs to be edited throughout. I'm not a very big proof-reader :P**

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In and out. In and out. That was the key. Just keep breathing. Just keep breathing. In and out. In and out.

Azula could still hear her now, those words uttered in that hoarse, raspy, achingly perfect voice:

"_I guess you just don't know people as well as you think you do."_

But she _did _know her—Azula knew her better than anyone else in the world, this she was _sure _of. She had been the very first to weasel a confession about her crush on Zuko from her, the one she had shared a thousand different secrets with, the one she had held and hissed low words of comfort in her ear after her foolish brother decided to turn around and join the Avatar.

_This _was how she repaid her?

"_You miscalculated."_

Azula had done no such thing. She had plotted, she had lied, she had done terrible, terrible things to ensure that her two friends stayed with her _always, _to make sure that neither of them ever strayed from her. She had to use fear to keep them with her, but she would do whatever it took, because she _needed _them. She needed them with her, always. Azula never miscalculated, not once, not about anything.

Had she?

"_I love Zuko…"_

No. _No. _

"…_more than I fear you."_

Azula didn't want her to fear her. Not really, not at the heart of her. Inside, she _wanted _her…and that was it.

She wanted Mai, more than she could put into words, almost more than anything she had ever desired before in her life. She had watched, silently seething with jealousy, as during the past few months, her brother and her best friend grew into two vines twined together, never apart, until it became near impossible to distinguish one from the next.

Azula had never thought their relationship would last—Mai had pined away for Zuko for a lot longer than she had thought, that was for sure, but that was nothing. Zuko had definitely liked her back when they were children, but he was different now, even more vulnerable, raw, and exposed then he had been then. The little fling the two had was never going to last.

During their brief stint on Ember Island, Azula had thought for sure that finally, finally, that long-awaited day was here, and that their connection would break, for good this time. Even Ty Lee had confided her worries to the princess that she did think their relationship would last too much longer.

Both of them had been wrong—Mai and Zuko had made up, the bond between them reformed and renewed, and it was all Azula could not to scream.

She wanted Mai to look at her the way she looked at Zuko, she wanted to hear _her _name escape her lips in a sigh of desire, wanted to feel that sleek, ebony hair woven through her fingertips in the midst of nothing but pure passion. She wanted to feel Mai's body wrap around her's, wanted to see the alluring glow that lit up those pale gold eyes turned on her, wanted to murmur her name into her ear and hear her whisper something beautiful back. Azula _wanted._

She would go to her grave swearing she hadn't. Mai wasn't the only one who could hide her emotions, who hide behind a mask. Azula was every bit as good as it—she just had never felt the urge to do so until now.

_Until now._

Azula had been so sure, so _sure, _that once Zuko left (idiot that he was), that Mai would forget him, that she would turn around and realize that she been pining after the wrong sibling the entire time. Azula could recall, though the memory was somewhat lost amidst the blinding white rage pounding away in her head, how she and Ty Lee had entered Mai's bedroom, only to see the weapons mistress look up at them with tears tracking down her pale, lovely face.

The princess had gone to her friend's side, sitting down next to her on the bed, and wrapped her arms around the long, slim body, as no doubt Zuko had done a hundred times before.

"Don't you worry, Mai…" Azula soothed her, while Ty Lee stood there in complete bewilderment. "Don't think about him…he isn't worth it. He isn't worth _you."_

No, he certainly wasn't. But she was. Azula was. Who could possibly deserve her more than the princess of the Fire Nation, the cunning, fearless, wonderful daughter who was now next in line for the throne? She had freed Mai from her cage in Omashu, had given her the life of excitement and action that she craved.

_No one _deserved Mai more than Azula did.

How could she not have realized that? How could Mai _not _have felt Azula's gaze on her, the heat of her lust practically scorching through the clothes the princess wanted nothing more to tear off? How could she have _not _seen her envious glare all the times she slipped into Zuko's arms, all the times he kissed her?

With Zuko out of the way and a national traitor, Azula had been sure that now, _now, _was finally the time to make her desires clear. She was the favorite child again, as she should be, loved and worshipped by all—she wanted Mai to fall into that as well.

When Azula had discovered that her brother was being held in the Boiling Rock prison, she had to suppress a whoop of glee. She could go now and end him properly, as she truly should have ages ago. Naturally, she brought Mai and Ty Lee with her. That was nothing unusual.

Mai had parted from the other two girls, claiming she wanted to go speak to her uncle. Azula and Ty Lee had ventured outside (after a discussion with the warden himself…Mai, his niece, nowhere in sight) only to discover Zuko and several of the Avatar's other comrades in the middle of an escape attempt. There had been a brief, uneventful skirmish, before the warden (who had gotten himself taken hostage, the incompetent fool) shouted to the guards down below to cut the line to the gondola they were fleeing the prison from.

A separate gondola had been sent up, an escape vehicle for Azula and Ty Lee, who had seized ahold of the opportunity. Again, it was she could do not to cackle—leaving her brother stranded on top of a swaying compartment about to plunge directly into a boiling lake had its merits, even though she herself would not be the one to finish him off.

Everything should have gone according to plan. Zuko and the others should have died there, she should have gone home and reported this to her father with great relish, should have spent the night in victory with Mai and Ty Lee (preferably just the former), and probably would have…had it not been for her.

She had been everywhere at once, a blur as she took down guard after guard, using those knives that she was so skilled with to disengage every one of them (and there had been many) before kicking loose the sword that had been jammed into the line of the gondola to prevent it from moving anywhere, thereby starting it up again. Zuko escaped. Mai was arrested.

And she had glared at Azula with nothing but defiance in her eyes.

Now, Azula squeezes her own eyes shut and bit down on her lower lip. Mai's betrayal had led to Ty Lee's own turning. She had gone so far as to strike Azula, to block her chi, to knock her to the ground to prevent her from hurting Mai.

And oh—how Azula had _wanted_ _to hurt Mai._

Her heart had been nothing more but an aching, raging ball of fury and pain in her chest as Mai spat her rebellious words at her, and Azula had screamed the first thing that flew into her mind then before preparing to strike her down, as she had done to her in that same moment.

"_You should have feared me more."_

Yes. And no. Mai should have wanted her more as well, should have loved her more than that weak, pathetic excuse of a brother she had.

Azula will kill him. She will utterly destroy Zuko, leave him broken and bleeding, and step on his chest, right over his heart as she marches over his still, lifeless body. Then, she will go all the way to the Boiling Rock prison and eliminate Ty Lee as quickly as she possibly can.

Ty Lee was always loyal, was always willing to worship and grovel to her—but she was easily swayed. Weak. She couldn't bear to see Mai hurt in front of her, and acted on a whim. Azula will not forgive her—but she will make sure that her demise is, at least, swift. Relatively painless.

Mai will not be so lucky.

Azula will stride into the cell she is locked up in, haul her to her feet, and plant a bruising, crushing kiss to her lips as she wanted to do for so long now. She won't give her time to think, or even breathe, before wrenching that ratty uniform off of her body and leaving her naked, exposed, completely vulnerable. She'll possess her, brand her, make Mai _her's _in every way she can.

Mai will pay for hurting her like this. She'll scream, she'll cry, she'll beg for a mercy that Azula will not give. She will suffer for even _daring _to hurt Azula like this, for rejecting her so blindly, for choosing Zuko over her.

Azula wants to see that face, that beautiful, wonderful face streaked with tears, desperation in her eyes as she pleads and sobs, and the princess will only laugh, laugh and sneer and drive her fingers into her with smoking fingers and smoldering eyes.

She hasn't decided how Mai will die yet. She will probably wait until the moment of climax, when Mai's body runs away from her and gives into Azula, before ending her. She might make it swift, a quick, strong blow to the heart or neck.

She might drag Mai out of the Boiling Rock and keep her as her _own _prisoner. That idea has great potential. Either way, she will make sure of one thing—Mai's life will either end, or become that of a living hell, until she pleads for death.

Azula stops herself before she can carry on with her dark, fast-moving thoughts. Now is not the time for that.

There will be plenty of time later, once Zuko is dead, the Avatar is defeated, and the world belongs to her father. There will be plenty of time for all that later.

Just keep breathing, Azula reminds herself, as a tear slips down her face. _In and out._

More tears follow, trickling down her face and dripping down her chin, tears of fury, tears of sorrow, tears of madness.

_Breathe. Just keep breathing._

She bursts into sobs, resting her forehead on the cool metal of the airship's railing, her mind pounding, her heart raging. There is nothing inside her now but that rampant ball of fire blazing inside her chest and a bright red fury, as red as flames, as red as blood.

_Just keep breathing._

Tomorrow is a new day. She will have her revenge. She will have everything.

And it will mean nothing.

_In and out. In and out. _


End file.
